Surrender, Gratitude – By Dawn Green

Surrender.

Gratitude.

These two words have become a sweet experience in my life. They are also my practice. One of the tools that I learned when I was on staff at El Cielo, our residential treatment centre in Cost Rica, is to embrace the things that I resisted by acknowledging to myself, “This is what Love looks like right now”.

I began by using the phrase occasionally, and then more consistently, and for a few years now it has been a steady practice. I use it to greet events, happenings and sometimes even people that my ego doesn’t want, and has done its utmost to avoid. These words are clear guidance from the sane part of my mind to the ego that there is nothing outside of Love, and that Love is in all creations, happenings and events.

Living from this perspective allows me to surrender to what life is bringing me, knowing that it can only be for me. I can allow myself to be moved forward with a sense of curiosity and anticipation as I allow each situation to unfold. I am once again taught how everything is for me, and that life conducts itself in miraculous ways when I stop trying to manage it according to my ego’s dictates.

Make this your practice over this Christmas season, and enjoy the gifts of surrender and gratitude.